Nashville based husband and wife songwriting team Cloverdayle originally hail from the Pacific Northwest. After making the move to Nashville in 2014, Chad and Rachel spent their first year in Music City immersed in writing & recording. By 2015, Cloverdayle joined forces with producer Steve Sundholm for their highly anticipated second full length album “Off The Grid”.During their 2017 summer tour, the duo debuted their latest and quite possibly most personal song, “Scars," which they discuss, along with their love of the road, in the Essential 8.

With “Scars”, what was the “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?From the first time we played it live, there was such an emotional moment that happened in the room. It got really quiet and by the end of the song, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house… That continued to resonate throughout our 2017 summer tour and that’s when we knew that we needed to record it.

What’s the story behind your song’s title?The initial concept for the song started back in 2013, after I (Rachel) had an unexpected major surgery, waking up with both physical and emotional scars. We discovered that I have stage 4 endometriosis and that, after years of trying, our chances of having kids naturally would probably never happen. Writing this song has definitely been a part of the healing process. It’s easy to get into a place where you’re feeling sorry for yourself, but what we wanted to convey in the lyric is the camaraderie of knowing that we all share the common threads of hurt and healing, and that at the end of the day, our scars are what make us the people we are. With everything that’s happening in our world today, we feel the message of this song is so universally relatable.

When/where do you do your best writing?We probably do our best writing on the road or at the beach. When you’re driving it’s easy to get inspired by all of the scenery and humanity that you’re passing. At our family beach house, the cell phones don’t work and there’s no wi-fi, so it’s great to be able to disconnect and get creative. We do a lot of writing sessions in Nashville in pretty sterile environments, (publishing company writing rooms). It’s great to bring ideas/lyrics/melodies/chords that we’ve written in moments & places that we were feeling inspired and creative, into a session that might not be as inspiring or creative.

Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?It’s all variations on the human experience: the good times, the bad times and everything in between. We’re very much “people people” and we want to be as relatable through our music as we are face-to-face in our everyday lives.

Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination? We’re both avid songwriters. We try to write from very real places and experiences. Sometimes it’s our story, other times it’s something we’ve had friends going through, or a need to just let loose and have fun.

What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?Find your sound, find your voice, dream outrageously, and be ready to work your ass off.

What do you love most about being on the road?We love the constant motion of being on the road, experiencing new places, visiting old places, winning over new fans, and re-connecting with fans that show up show after show. We also love the adventure of exploring this amazing country! We’re up to 40 states, so at this point, bucket list will be to see them all…

How do you kill long hours in the truck?We actually love the long hours in the truck! We do our share of streaming music, but we still like the old-school stocking up on hard copies of new records and binge listening while we’re driving down the road. We jam out to our old favorites, write new material and google reviews to find the best Italian food & pizza in small town America.